


Sacrifice

by Zip001



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-01
Updated: 2017-08-01
Packaged: 2018-11-30 00:28:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11452218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zip001/pseuds/Zip001
Summary: Written for Stannis Week 2017 (run by @fyeahstannis), day 1, memorable quote -"I never asked for this crown. Gold is cold and heavy on the head, but so long as I am the king, I have a duty … If I must sacrifice one child to the flames to save a million from the dark... Sacrifice... is never easy, Davos. Or it is no true sacrifice."Stannis meets Mistress of Laws who demands answers.(Not a crossover)https://zip00198704.tumblr.com/post/162792981044/i-never-asked-for-this-crown-gold-is-cold-and





	Sacrifice

After being presented to the Dragon Queen and her inner court, he was always kept in the dark, cold, naked, and alone, but for his dark thoughts. With his arms bound tightly behind him, he had to lap the weak gruel that they threw poured in trough. They thought to break him down but they did not realize that he was already broken, not from lack of food, not from lack of light, but because of her.

The Queen demanded answers. She heard of his actions and before passing judgement, required him to explain himself. If the Targaryen Queen were the one who asked, he would have likely spat out what he told Davos seemingly long ago. But it was Ned's daughter who spoke, Lady Sansa, the lady wife of Lord Tyrion, the Hand of the Queen, the cousin of the Queen's nephew, Prince Jon Targaryen, and last, but not least, her Lady Justice.

And he could not speak.

He saw in her eyes his daughter's kind blue eyes. That look of betrayal and such sadness.

When Lady Sansa quietly asked why, Stannis heard Shireen's soft voice pleading with him and asking him why he was doing this.

He stubbornly did not utter a word and kept his eyes on the enraged Dragon Queen, willing her to just burn him, end his suffering. And she would have but for her Lady Justice's soft whispers. He was dragged away backwards, with his face facing the Royal Court, as Lady Sansa looked at him.

"Why?"

He heard her voice again. Was she always there? Nay, he must be hallucinating as a fine lady like herself would never visit him in his filth - he was not even her father. He was not honorable Ned - he knew that the poor man sacrificed himself for his daughters. Perhaps that was the greatest sacrifice, not what he himself had done, and for naught. That was cruelest joke, worst than any his brother Robert told, even crueler than he and Robert watching the deaths of their parents. There was no justice, none, no happiness either (but for the birth of his Shireen), only endless cycles of suffering and even more suffering.

"My father respected you."

"Woman, leave me be. Your father, Lord Stark, he respected the buffoon that was my brother."

He turned his back to her, trying to cover himself. She could not possibly see his bony naked body in such darkness, but yet he still felt her eyes on him.

"He loved the man that Robert used to be and could have been. He had only respect for you - he said you were a just man."

"I AM NOT YOUR FATHER!" he yelled. What she wanted, he could not give her.

"And I am alive as a result," she hissed. He heard her breathing heavily as if she was trying to rein in her rage.

"My prince said you were a hard man, a good man. He told me that it could not be, that you l-"

"I had no choice," he choked out. "I did not ask for this, for any of this. You think there is a choice at every step, but you do not know. The choice was whether to do one's duty. I did my duty!"

\-----

"Sansa, he is not getting any better. He keeps calling out your name, confusing you with his daughter. It would be more merciful if his suffering was ended. It would be quick."

"Tyrion, how can he when his arms bound, when he is forced to lap his food like an animal? Why is he naked? This is inhumane."

"He almost killed the maester with his bare hands. He blinded himself using his spoon. He tried to hang himself with his clothes. The restraints are for his safety and the safety of others... My lady, you know that he is not your father."


End file.
